First "real" straight shave and Question about honing

[J Howard]

Well Last night I finally took the plunge and went at my face with a brand new Dovo Black star (all honed up by Lynn). Totally different from the Feather AC, the Durham Duplex, or any shaveette I have used. I would put it somewhere between the DD and the AC for comfort and ease. I spent a long time with the prep and lathered up my B&B Exclusive with AOS Lavender cream. The blade did seem to want to skip more than the AC but to my surprise was more forgiving. I only did two passes, one mostly WTG and one mostly XTG but I was more concerned with shaving the planes of my face with the best angle rather than do exact grain reduction like I do with a DE. Razor burn was slight but much more apparent than with the AC but a quick dab of SCS coconut milk took care of that. A very passable shave, comparable to my first few shaves with a DE. Looks clean and feels smooth WTG. I did find myself trying to buff with the blade and quickly adjusted to only worry about not cutting myself. Any advice on technique differences between a Feather and a "real" straight?

Now to honing...
Right now I have (or will have shortly):
2 shave ready straights (Dovo from Lynn, and one restored by Ambrose)
1 SRD 2" hanging Latigo and cloth strop
1 TI paddle strop with leather on both sides

I was thinking of buying a barber hone on the bay but was wondering if there was a way to keep these razors as shave ready as possible for as long as I can without an expensive Spyderco, or Norton. I think I have 6 surfaces to use here so what kind of pastes would keep my razors going the longest? How much time on each surface would this take? Would 5 passes on a barber hone be ok every 10 shaves or so if I stropped before each one? Is there a benefit to stropping before and after each shave, or should I just strop before? About how many laps should I do on the Latigo/cloth before each shave?

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

P.S. I read on here that someone thought their pakka wood Dovo smelled like formaldehyde, my opinion: only slightly, and only when wet but a chemical smell is there.

 

[TstebinsB]

You can use a leather strop with chromium oxide paste or you can get a fine barber hone. Coupled with proper stropping, either one will give you a fine touch up. I prefer the paste because it's cheaper, since you already have leather, and it's consistent. Some barber hones are very fine and others are quite coarse. You can wind up spending a pretty penny before you find the right one.

Regardless, you shouldn't need either one in quite a while though. Remember: that's with proper stropping. That's a key point that many people never grasp. Assuming you don't knock the edge on anything and you really do have shave-ready razors, correct stropping is the key to maintaining an edge.

As for the amount of passes, 5-10 should be plenty.

 

[J Howard]

Why can't I use the paddle strop I already own, and add Chromium Oxide to that? Is the balsa wood different than the leather with paste?

 

[leighton]

Why can't I use the paddle strop I already own, and add Chromium Oxide to that? Is the balsa wood different than the leather with paste?

You can, but you couldn't use it as a normal strop afterwards. In the end, its a personal choice. Balsa wood is cheap, the results will be so similar that you'd be splitting hairs at that point.

 

[Chimensch]

Yes, use one side of the paddle strop for chromium oxide. It'll do fine. Also, any barber hone followed by chromium oxide on the paddle strop will also give you good results.

 

[J Howard]

Thanks for the advice. I think pasting the paddle strop is the intent as one side is very smooth leather and the other is very rough (this is the side I should paste right?). So should I leave the cloth strop completely unpasted?

Another question: After hearing about how people mess up by improperly stropping in the beginning, should I strop on the good leather of the paddle strop for the first few shaves so I don't hurt the bevel?